{"id":637,"date":"2014-09-01T10:45:17","date_gmt":"2014-09-01T14:45:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/markbordeaux.com\/?p=637"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:01:10","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:01:10","slug":"paying-it-forward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/markbordeaux.com\/?p=637","title":{"rendered":"Paying It Forward"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cPaying It Forward\u201d<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\"Starbucks<\/a>

Starbucks customers choosing to “pay it forward” (Photo: Weston Phippen; Times)<\/p><\/div>\n

How is this for a streak of kindness?<\/i><\/b> According to a report in the Tampa Bay Times<\/i>, “The acts of kindness [in St. Petersburg, Florida] began at 7 A.M. Wednesday with a woman, her iced coffee and a stranger’s caramel macchiato. The woman paid for her own drink, then asked to pay for the drink of the person behind her in the drive-through. That person returned the favor and paid for the person behind \u2026”[i]<\/a><\/p>\n

From 7am to 6pm 378 people \u201cpaid it forward\u201d!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

The Starbucks baristas started to keep a tally of the paying it forward customers. By 1:30 P.M., the chain had reached 260 customers. By early evening, the tally hit 378. “Then, at 6 P.M., customer No. 379\u2014a woman in a white Jeep Commander\u2014pulled into the drive-through and ordered a regular coffee.” Then a barista told the woman about the pay it forward chain, she declined, saying she just wanted to pay for her $2.25 drink and not someone else’s. Apparently, she didn’t understand the concept, and the chain was broken.<\/p>\n

As far as we know, none of these customers were in need of having someone pay for their coffee; it was only a simple gesture of kindness \u2013 repeated 378 times. Certainly, the 340th<\/sup> customer did not go without coffee when the lady in the Jeep decided not to join the chain. Nothing of genuine significance was at stake. The fun of being a part of a caring community that expressed kindness to strangers was the only real motivation.<\/p>\n

When your turn came, what would you do?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

What would you do? I suspect that most of us would have gladly joined in to spread the good will.<\/p>\n

I see this \u201cpay it forward\u201d spirit at Ridgeland Baptist Church. From what I know of our history, it has been going on for many years.<\/p>\n

Many of our brothers and sisters who are now worshipping in the presence of God \u201cpaid it forward\u201d by investing their lives in our Master\u2019s Mission of making disciples (Mt. 28:18-20). You know it is true. It has been done since the first followers of Christ decided that they could not help, but \u201cpay it forward\u201d by telling the world about the Living Lord \u2013 Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

We have a rich lineage that actually connects us to those Christ-followers in the Upper Room!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Since then there has been a \u201cchain\u201d of people who have been so grateful for what God has done for them that they wanted to do whatever they could to \u201cpay it forward\u201d to others. Just try to think back to those who influenced you to be a fully devoted follower of Christ. Now, who influenced them? Oh we have a rich lineage that actually connects us to those Christ-followers in the Upper Room!<\/p>\n

Why wouldn\u2019t anyone want to be a part of this?<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n